Junkk.com promotes fun, reward-based e-practices, sharing oodles of info in objective, balanced ways. But we do have personal opinions, too! Hence this slightly ‘off of site, top of mind' blog by Junkk Male Peter. Hopefully still more ‘concerned mates’ than 'do this... or else' nannies, with critiques seen as constructive or of a more eyebrow-twitching ‘Oh, really?!' variety. Little that’s green can be viewed only in black and white.

Monday, October 01, 2007

Then I ran into this: 'The good news is that there is now a broad consensus that climate change is real and man-made,'

Really? I am a total convert to doing all we can to reduce whatever we can and avoid waste wherever possible, because I do think there is negative climate change. But at best, on present evidence, I can only accept that whatever might be causing it man is simply making things a lot worse than it need be, and hence any moves to correct 'our' impact need to engaged with asap and big time. Getting some to the notion that mankind's numbers, activities and ambitions might be having an impact at all is proving tricky enough, and I am not sure going for the whole hog in this way won't spark more unnecessarily divisive and distracting stalling debates. Green simply cannot be viewed in such black and white terms if we are to achieve consensus enough to move on and make a difference together.

Meanwhile, on slightly less lofty local issues, to be slightly uncharitable one might ponder whether all these different quangos - with all these different departments and all these different budgets to meet all these different targets - may be competing a tad too much to allow a single (or at least sensibly coordinated) set of messages get through to the hapless punter at large.

I've lost count of the number of different ways I can measure just my carbon footprint, and often feel actual public purse funds would be better spent on tangible initiatives that help me actually DO something, rather than prop up vast empires of folk with massive comms budgets to share various box-ticking awareness-obsessed visions.

We thought that we used a lot here in the UK, but that's the estimate of just how many of the ubiquitous plastic carrier bags the citizens of the USA get through each year. (That's equivalent to about 12 million barrels of oil each year!)

This from the New York Times argues that Americans need a complete change in behaviour before anything will ever be achieved.

I particularly liked the story of the lady who took her own reusable bags to a supermarket where they still packed all her groceries in plastic ones anyway!

"if we can’t change our behavior to deal with this one, we can’t change our behavior to deal with anything."

Well, let's see; with so much heavyweight muscle applied to the pols in the white house by the Big Oil boys and their brethren in the downstream petrochemicals industries, I can't see much significant change in behaviour occurring under this particular administration.

FIELD:Enviro-relatedWHEN: Oct 3WHAT: APPLIED GREENWHAT... MORE?: 'Applied Green is not your usual conference. It's a festival of minds where the biggest names will tackle the biggest issue we face - the impact of green issues on conventional business and mindsets.

This is a day for anyone from any industry who cares about green issues. As you see from the speakers listed here you will find out about the latest green thinking across a range of fields in just one day.

What about the green debate? While the world obsesses about solutions to environmental problems, the media industry lacks a clear consensus on the environment. The interests that converge on the issue - business, consumers, government and conservation - clash chaotically.

Where's the centre of gravity for this crucial debate in the marketing and advertising arena? Why can't we create it? Why can't we build a green debate around the big themes, subjects and thinking in marketing?

At the end of the day we want to have come up with a leading position for the media industry. We want people to go away having learned about green media as well as green messages. We want to imspire new thinking, new solutions and new inventions and behaviour change.WHERE: The British Library, LondonWHO:Greg Nugent, managing director, EurostarJonathan Porritt, founder director, Forum For The FutureDavid Hieatt, founder of Howies.Philip Gould, Philip Gould AssociatesJohn Grant, co-founder of St Luke's, planner, consultant, authorMichael Bremans, chief executive, EcoverEugenie Harvey, founder of We Are What We DoAdam Morgan, partner, eatbigfishNareshRamchandani, Karmarama founder and Guardian columnistBen Terrett, co-founder, The Design ConspiracyMichael Johnson, Johnson BanksMarc Sands, marketing director,The GuardianMatthew Anderson, group director of brand and communications, BSkyBRussell Davies, Open Intelligence AgencyDr Arlo Brady, special advisor, Freud CommunicationsSteve Howard, chief executive, The Climate GroupArlo Brady, who is special advisor on sustainable development at Freud Communications, there's opinion and thought on the latest sustainability developments at http://greenlightbulb.blogspot.com. There's also an article putting the "greenrush" in a branding context at http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp?bs_id=174.HOW:Sooooo not free!URL:http://www.eventsforce.net/haymarket/templates/sub/thome.csp?pageID=143561COMMENTS: Well, it would be nice to go, but it's in London (fair do's; that's where most relevant folk are) and getting close to a grand. So one has to wonder how representative a group of those who care vs. those who can pay there will be. Still, if you want to run shoulders with some and maybe see a bit of green rub off, I guess it's the place to be.

And this did look like encouraging news: There’s little doubt that the UK is ahead of the green game.

However, I was then moved to comment:

Well, I'll take your word for it that the UK is 'ahead' of Spain, at least.

Though I still chortle as I read my Indy and see an Evian ad or my Guardian and get a 4x4 tootling across the banner. And I must look out for bio at my local Morrisons.

Have fun at the conference. As it's a long way away and a tad pricey at £649+VAT for the day I would have loved to come but for various reasons cannot. I hope those who can afford the time and money to do so will have lots of lovely green wheezes.

I have tended to dismiss anything that purports to be 'green' when it is associated with the word 'fashion', as the latter tends to depend on the less attractive extremes of consumption, but this looked worth a gander: Supermarket's eco- fashion under threat?

What the author has described kind of speaks for itself and I'll let you decide on the facts vs. the opinion, but it also to me shows the perils of 'dabbling' with issues such as this. And, indeed, those who see themselves as the leaders of the cause.

Every time I see a fashion spread in the Sunday glossies I tend to wince, as I have seen this week'; recycled 'must have' become 'so last year' by the next, which to me is such a mixed up message I'd prefer they just didn't get involved.

That last bit made it look like it was simply a bit of electioneering until I saw the party to which the MP belonged.

One can see the... a... any government's dilemma. Almost anything designed to encourage going green either involves less revenue (LPG, etc) or forking out.

But I'm sorry, if the prime minister and other ministers are only capable of renewed pledges to extend Britain's action on climate change, but then allow reality on the ground not to catch up,then at best I have to ask what use they are.

And looking at the money doled out (£624k?)to the number of homes (629?) out of all eligible in the UK, I have to wonder how much was spent administering the whole thing.

Any bets on more than has been provided?

As it is of value, I reproduce here the actual grants as outlined. It may still be worth the effort trying:

Here we have a willing and keen recycler essentially turned to the Dark Side by a system that says one thing but makes it very hard to actually do it.

Now our local kerbside system, the RE:box (logo designed by yours truly) does not present such a problem as no plastics are accepted anyway. I matter, I might note, of some irritation to many who think it should (I am prepared to listen to and weigh the ROI and enviROI explanations if and when provided).

Oddly, in the swimming pool carpark next door there is a dirty great skip that will take plastic. However it's a little vague on what exactly, so I give it all I can on the theory that this will encourage better logistical system from cradle to grave to deal with all the options, or at least sensiblecommunications of what is going on and why.

It will be interesting to see whether efforts will be made to help such as me or, as i suspect, vast funds will be applied to 'dealing' with me rather than the waste I am trying to recycle.

'I continue to be amazed at the wide variation in recycling initiatives, which go from the disgustingly paltry to the exemplary. I would be intrigued to learn why there is such a huge disparity in the schemes currently in place across the country. Surely all councils have access to the same recycling technologies?'

'It does seem as though what started out as a good idea to benefit the environment has been taken over by the bureaucrats and turned into a money-saving exercise.'

What lies above...

This blog getting ever more extensive as I add stuff and Blogger adds features. This Nav Bar is worth a scroll down. It has a full search list of topics covered. And is... growing. Please pop across to Junkk.com (link below) too as I need the visitor numbers until I can figure out how to combine those here with the site. It is equally fun and informative, but most new stuff is currently here as it is easier to add.

Note that for any post with 'CATEGORY - [topic], it will be evolving, with (for now), most recent post last (at end), indicated by 'NEW'.

Note: My social and ad commentaries were going beyond this blog's remit, so if you are minded, may I commend (with content cautions) 'El Burro Hotay' and 'Bordello Ivory Tales', respectively, to further pursue these aspects of life, the universe and... well, stuff.